The Pine Island Paradox (The World As Home) [Hardcover]

Kathleen Dean Moore (Author)

Book Description

Series: The World As Home | Publication Date: April 30, 2004

In this warm, stimulating brew of personal stories, acclaimed author Kathleen Dean Moore uses the metaphor of an island to challenge the cynicism inherent in the Western worldview. A gifted storyteller with a sly sense of humor, Moore explores three separations brought to us by Enlightenment philosophers: the separation of human from nature, of things near and far away, and of the sacred from the mundane. Challenging each, such as Descartes' idea that humans have a discrete consciousness and can alter creation while remaining unaltered themselves, she reveals why such divisions don't tally with the values expressed daily in the way people live. Moore disguises her philosophical explorations in stories: about vacationing on a tiny island in Alaska, visiting her father in the hospital, watching grouse perform their mating dance in the desert. Throughout, she shows that, when properly observed, the world is full of opportunities to find hidden connections.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Possessing the soul of a poet and the voice of a troubadour, Moore writes luminous essays about what it means to love a place not in the glib way one "loves" a cold drink on a hot day but passionately, a love that is so deep, so ingrained, it must be encoded in one's DNA. A university philosophy professor, Moore brings a refined sensibility to a worldview so precise that it can focus appreciatively on the delicate ballet of microorganisms swimming in a tidal pool, so expansive that it can relate that ballet to the ecology of the world as a whole. The paradox of an island, as Moore observes with elegiac remorse and wonder, is its apparent isolation, a solitude that conceals a teeming universe relentlessly threatened precisely because it remains unseen. Moore, with graceful insight and lyrical eloquence, reveals worlds that dare not be missed, revels in the joy of their discovery, and extols the rewards of their stewardship. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"...[Moore] evokes a vision of the interrelation of life, all joined beneath the surface." -- Islands, July 2004

"...an intense practitioner of noticing... " -- The Oregonian, July 19, 2004

"...one of the best essayists on nature that America has produced..." -- Statesman Journal, July 4, 2004

"The Pine Island Paradox is a beautiful and challenging book to read…Moore...writes beautifully and compellingly." -- Lodi News-Sentinel, February 26, 2005

"The Pine Island Paradox travels through marshes, forests, and deserts offer[ing] fresh ways of looking at ourselves and the world." -- California Wild, Spring 2004

"This book is a religious experience for those who see the sacred in the natural workings of the world." -- Islander (Sanibel, FL), May 28

A talented storyteller and sage philosopher, the author shares personal stories about the separation of humankind from nature. -- Forecast, May, 2004

Moore has written a sharp and lyrical treatise on what it means to be human in the natural world. -- Body and Soul, September 2004

Moore's prose sings...It moves from image and experience, from the small things, the casual motions, through narrative and language. -- The Middlewesterner Weblog, September 18, 2005

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Milkweed Editions; 1ST edition (April 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571312765
• ISBN-13: 978-1571312761
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,100,390 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, October 23, 2004

By 

Ann Ueda (East Bay, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Pine Island Paradox (The World As Home) (Hardcover)

I had the pleasure of briefly meeting the author, Kathleen Dean Moore, and listening to her read a (too) brief selection of pieces from The Pine Island Paradox, her latest collection of essays. I was so moved by her approach to her work (she is co-founder and Director of The Spring Creek Project, devoted to expanding the connections between the environment, philosophy, and words) and her writing that I ran right out and bought this book.

I was not disappointed a bit. Ms. Moore has a gift for observations of the natural world and the ways western philosophy

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book -- beautiful life, July 12, 2006

By 

W. Jamison "William S. Jamison" (Eagle River, Ak United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Pine Island Paradox: Making Connections in a Disconnected World (The World As Home) (Paperback)

This reminds me of "The Web of Life : A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems" by Fritjof Capra as well as his previous book "The Turning Point" on which the movie "Mindwalk" (by Bernt Amadeus Capra, with Liv Ullmann, Sam Waterston, and John Heard) was based. The difference is this book is not written by a physicist but by a philosopher whose engagement with her family and her environs is done in beautiful prose. Even an island is not an island.
What does it mean to love a person? What does it mean to love a place? The list (p. 35) is interesting and so both are similar. How many things I must love according to this list! But even though they all fit, would I say I really love my car? I suppose I am spoiled by C.S. Lewis' "The Four Loves" which I think gives us some wonderful ways of discriminating among different "loves" and keeping them clearly different in our minds. I suppose the issue would be in the degree of love -- number nine "desperately".
My favorite piece was about the bird hiding the nut in the backyard. What a great ending!